Reiner - Real Deal

“I don’t feel any guilt or any sense of responsibility. Everyone has their own role to play, Reiner. You and me, we just played out role. The mission came with instructions and without the identity of the target. If the person paying doesn’t care who would get killed, then that’s none of our concern,” the old man said firmly.

“I guess…” Reiner whispered.

“Why do you think the mission came without a clear identity of the target? Because it doesn’t matter who gets killed. The purpose was to get rid of some secret documents. That’s it. In the end, the client achieved that, and they were happy. Done deal,” the old man said before snapping his fingers.

“I know that,” Reiner replied coldly.

The old man narrowed his eyes at Reiner as if he wasn’t convinced that Reiner understood what he was saying. The man sighed loudly before speaking again.

“What are you going to do? Marry the girl?” the old man asked.

“Of course not,” Reiner replied immediately.

“Poor little girl is going to get her poor little heart broken…” the man teased as he made a small voice.

“You should go back…” Reiner snapped.

“Didn’t I teach you not to half-ass things?” the old man continued with his preaching.

“You should return…” Reiner repeated firmly.

“Go home, Reiner. Take on some jobs and put your old man in a good mood,” the old man suggested.

“You should disappear already, don’t you think? You’ve been out in the open for too long, isn’t it bad for your skin?” Reiner said, clearly annoyed.

“I wasn’t here. You didn’t see me. I don’t exist,” the old man said before smirking.

“Roger that,” Reiner muttered.

…

I waited for Reiner in the mansion. Those two are really taking their time with their talks. It’s been a while since I’ve been waiting and there were still no signs of Reiner. I wondered what they are talking about. I wondered if they’re talking about me. Sitting down on the sofa, I crossed my legs and then uncrossed them. After a while, I crossed them again. What is taking Reiner so long?

When I heard the door open, I jumped up from the sofa immediately and approached the door. As expected, Reiner walked in with an unreadable expression on his face. That only made me more curious about what the two men talked about. I decided to ask him about it although I knew that he probably won’t tell me anything.

“How was your talk with the old man?” I asked before smiling up at him.

“Nothing special. We didn’t talk about anything much,” Reiner replied.

I knew that that wasn’t true. I mean, they did take quite a while.

“How did you two get to know each other?” I asked, curiously.

Reiner stared down at my face, and I knew that I was being too nosy. But I just wanted to know…

“I know him from way back…” Reiner replied without disclosing any key information.

“He seems like a very kind person” I commented.

“Forget that you ever met him. That’s for the best,” Reiner said curtly.

“Why? This is the first time you introduced me to your friend,” I said.

“I didn’t introduce you two. You ran into him…” Reiner corrected.

Oh, I guess he’s right.

“I didn’t get to thank him for letting us stay here…” I mumbled.

“Did he say anything to you?” Reiner asked, suddenly sounding very serious.

“Umm…no…” I replied before smiling at him.

It’s not like I can tell him what we spoke about…

“Good. Come here for a second,” Reiner said as he reached out and took my hand into his.

Without much effort, Reiner began dragging me behind him. I struggled to keep up with his long strides while my mind wondered where he was taking me. The mansion was much larger than I had initially thought. The hallway that Reiner was leading me down was long but quite narrow. When we reached the end, we descended some stairs.

Is this the underground? I didn’t think that this mansion would have an underground floor like this.

Surprisingly, it was quite clean and there was more than enough light for us to see properly. Reiner held my hand as he helped me down the narrow stairs.

“What are we doing down here?” I asked curiously.

“You’ll see…” Reiner replied without giving anything away.

These little adventures and exploration felt so exciting to me. I actually never knew that I was into these mysterious adventures and stuff.

“We’re here…” Reiner said unceremoniously.

I stared in wonder at a device that locked the door. This does look like some spy movie. It’s a fingerprint scanner and a retina scanner. In the middle of a mountain? Well, I clearly didn’t expect that.

“Is this some kind of treasure room?” I asked excitedly.

“Depends on who’s looking at it…I guess…” Reiner replied before he let the machine scan his retina.

The large metal door clicked unlocked and automatically slid open. It was dark inside, however, when Reiner stepped in the lights automatically switched on.

Oh…

“Oh…” I whispered in astonishment.

I took one step into the room, and I was too stunned with what I was seeing to take another step.

Someone, please tell me that this is the wrong room. My eyes widened in shock at the sight of countless rows of weapons arranged on the walls from floor to ceiling. Racks and racks of what I guess were various types of weapons were there as well.

I had no knowledge of these things, but I could identify the key themes of the things in the room. Guns, explosives, knives, swords, bullets, and various other weapons that I didn’t even know how to start describing.

Tell me that this is some mistake…

“What are we doing here?” I asked, my voice shaking.

Reiner’s hand held mine a little firmer before he turned to face me. He looked very calm and collected and I could tell that this wasn’t his first time in the room at all.

“How best to convince other people that you can take care and protect yourself?” Reiner asked.

How am I supposed to answer that?

“Umm…” I murmured, unsure of how to answer.

--To be continued…